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Neron is a demon-lord of Hell and was first featured as the major antagonist in the DC Comics multi-title comic book crossover event Underworld Unleashed released by DC Comics in 1995. As well as the core storyline of the three-issue Underworld Unleashed miniseries (November 1995-late December 1995), most of the issues of the DC Comics titles that were published in November and December 1995 (including two in October 1995 and one in January 1996) and four one-shot issues that were published at the same time were also part of the event. Neron appeared in most of these issues. After this introduction, he was next used in several storylines simultaneously: The Flash (vol. 2) #125-129 (May–September 1997), by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #123-127 (July–November 1997) by John Byrne and a two-part story in JLA #6-7 (June–July 1997) by Grant Morrison, with art by Neron's co-creator Howard Porter. The last storyline was concluded in the three-issue miniseries JLA: Paradise Lost (January–March 1998), a key early story in the long process of reordering the position of Hell in the DC Universe.

Neron then appeared in New Year's Evil: The Rogues #1 (February 1998), a part of the DC Comics storyline "New Year's Evil" that ran in eight one-shot issues,[1] followed by a two-page vignette featuring Etrigan the Demon in the one-shot anthology title DCU Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 (April 1999) and ended the year with a part in the five-issue weekly series Day of Judgement (November 1999) and a stand-alone tale by J.M. DeMatteis, "Heart of Hell" in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #15 (fall 1999), the last issue of that series, which is part of the Day of Judgement crossover storyline and concludes it.

His next appearances came in the five-issue weekly series Deadman: Dead Again (October 2001) written by Steve Vance, a humorous Christmas story called "Merry Christmas, Justice League - Now Die!" , in JLA #60 (January 2002) and a brief encounter in "On Duty In Hell" in Human Defense Corps #6 (December 2003), the last issue of the six-issue miniseries. Two years later, he featured in the last four parts of the six-part storyline "Out of the Past" in Richard Dragon #7-12 (January–June 2005), then during the DC crossover event 52 Neron was involved in Week 25 (October 25, 2006) and Week 42 (February 21, 2007), followed by "Devil May Care" in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #42 (February 2007). None of these stories were critical to his character development or storyline at all. This was left to Keith Giffen, whose eight-issue miniseries Reign In Hell (September 2008-April 2009, including DC Universe Special: Reign in Hell #1 (August 2008)) featured an all-out war between Hell and Purgatory which involved practically every magical superhero in the DC Universe in one way or another and redefined the position of Hell in the DC Universe (but, at the same time, it had many internal continuity errors that made its place in mainstream DC Universe canon questionable). Since then there have been three further appearances, a short non-canonical joke involving Ambush Bug (Irwin Schwab) in typical Keith Giffen style in issue #3 of the six-issue miniseries Ambush Bug: Year None #1-5 and #7 (September 2008-January 2009 and December 2009 (issue #6 is missing here (and, in fact, was actually released as issue #7 deliberately)) and two canonical appearances, the first in issues #8-13 of the 13-issue miniseries Constantine: The Hellblazer (August 2015-August 2016) and the second in issues #2-6 of the six-issue miniseries Midnighter and Apollo (December 2016-May 2017).

Neron is one of the major demon-lords of Hell, a "Wishweaver" ,[2] the "King of Hate" [3] and the "Lord of Lies" .[4] It is not known how old he is, but he has claimed, "I brought the very first couple together" [5] and he has told Wonder Woman, "I am among the first that walked abroad in this universe, and my influence has been known since humanity's first fall from grace" ,[6] although it should be remembered that he is the Lord of Lies and, therefore, he cannot be trusted. Although he is unknown to Earth's superheroes and supervillains until the events of Underworld Unleashed, the ancient supervillain Vandal Savage is already long since acquainted with him- "Still making deals...collecting souls?" is how Savage greets Neron and then they discuss matters as if they are old acquaintances.[7]

He specializes in making deals with people for their souls in exchange for their greatest desires. As Vandal Savage says to him, "Deals are your passion, Neron. You grant us the desires of our hearts-in exchange for our immortal souls." [7] These deals are classic Faustian arrangements made only to further his own twisted ends; half-truths and treachery which lead to either misfortune for the dealmakers or their deaths, the latter either as a result of their own actions or by Neron claiming their souls when the deal is up or when they fail to keep their side of the deal. In other cases, he achieves his aims by offering similarly treacherous information or by granting a person's greatest desires in exchange for the completion of a task for him-usually with similar results. To approach a victim, he will either appear before them directly or send them a carved black candle (a "demon stick" forged in demon's blood)[2] which, when lit, either summons him to them directly in order for them to make a deal or brings them to Hell, where they then meet him and are offered a deal.

Neron appears to be unable to resist a chance to make a deal; he is attracted to dealmaking in order to corrupt and gain souls. He is also attracted to purity and wishes to corrupt and destroy it wherever he finds it. Both of these attractions have led to his downfall many times.

Neron's first appearance to Earth's supervillains and superheroes occurs during the Underworld Unleashed crossover event, when he plots to take over Earth by either enhancing the powers of, or offering their greatest desires to, dozens of supervillains and superheroes in exchange for their souls. When attempting to tempt Green Lantern V (Kyle Rayner), he offers to bring back from the dead Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra deWitt; similarly he offers to bring Robin II (Jason Peter Todd) back from the dead for the Batman I (Bruce Wayne) and to bring the Flash II (Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen) back from the dead for the Flash III (Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West).[8]

He tricks five members of the Flash's Rogues Gallery (Captain Boomerang I (George "Digger" Harkness), Captain Cold, Heat Wave, the Mirror Master II (Evan McCulloch) and the Weather Wizard) into causing a series of explosions in five separate places that kills them by consuming them in green fire. When seen from the sky, the flames from the five explosions resemble the points of a pentagram and the symbol, combined with the deaths of the five Rogues Gallery members, creates a gateway which enables Neron to travel to Earth and to corrupt humanity. Many supervillains and superheroes are either approached directly with deals for their souls or sent carved black candles which, when lit, either summon Neron to them directly in order for them to make a deal or bring them to Hell, where they then meet him and are offered a deal. About 50 supervillains have their powers enhanced to varying degrees as a result.[9]

Ultimately, Neron is scheming to take over Earth and to obtain a "pure soul" that he can corrupt. Initially, everyone assumes that this refers to Superman's soul, but he actually seeks the soul of Captain Marvel. In the end, he is defeated by the Trickster I (Giovanni Giuseppe a.k.a. James Montgomery Jesse) (who suggests that Captain Marvel should make a deal with him and then tells him what kind of deal to make)[10] and the most powerful members of Justice League America, including Captain Marvel, though not before causing mass chaos and worldwide destruction on Earth, killing the alien tyrant Mongul I with his bare hands and sending away a large number of other supervillains who had refused his offer. Captain Marvel makes a deal with Neron to not conquer Earth and to release Earth and all of his fellow superheroes-and, by unspoken extension, all of the supervillains who had accepted his offer-from any and all debts they may have owed to him, in exchange for his soul and nothing else. Neron accepts and tries to take Captain Marvel's soul, but it is too pure for him to touch without it actually, physically burning him; Neron, however, still had to honor his side of the deal.[11][12] Critical to later events, he also makes a deal with the Spectre-Force so that it will not act against him in the future and reveals that he wants the Spectre as his slave and ultimately as his successor in Hell.[13]

After the Underworld Unleashed crossover event, an unknown number of Neron's candles still exist and cause major trouble for their owners, and others, in later years.

Two years later, the five now-soulless Rogues Gallery members that were previously killed by Neron's treachery are resurrected from the dead as soulless killers in order to cause havoc in Keystone City (along with Major Disaster, who has become Neron's latest lieutenant),[14] causing the Flash III to challenge Neron for their souls after gaining an audience in Hell by using a candle that former Rogues Gallery member the Pied Piper II (Hartley Rathaway) had kept but never lit, all of which Neron had supposedly planned.[15] Neron offers the Flash III a deal for the Rogues Gallery members' souls, but he refuses and is allowed to leave Hell with the Flash I (Jason Peter "Jay" Garrick), whom Neron had captured earlier.[16] Knowing that the now almost-immortal Rogues Gallery members will soon be too powerful for anyone to fight, Neron's plan is that the Flash III will be forced to make a deal with him to save Keystone City. Neron refuses the Flash III's soul and asks for his love for news reporter Linda Park instead, because of its purity. He gets it, and Linda's soul also, which she had made a deal for earlier in exchange for Neron not going after the Flash III's soul. Neron had planned all of this in order to use the Speed Force to both enter into, and to rule, Heaven,[17] but the plan backfires and the essence of the Flash III and Linda's love corrupts him, causing him to feel pity and compassion for the damned souls in his realm for the first time in his existence without understanding why and forcing him in utter desperation to frantically offer the couple another deal to take their love back. The Flash III accepts the deal, in return asking Neron to truly bring the Rogues Gallery members back from the dead and return their souls to their bodies-which Neron does, afterwards vowing revenge on the Flash III for defeating him before disappearing.[18]

Immediately after this, he captures Wonder Woman and Artemis of Bana-Mighdall in Hell as part of a plan to bring about the defeat of his enemy, Etrigan the Demon.[19] After being seriously hurt by Artemis in the ensuing battle, he kills Wonder Woman,[20] although she is later restored to life by the Olympian Gods.[21]

Next, Neron's ambitions to conquer Heaven are furthered when he notices chaos and "strife between the orders of angels" when Asmodel, a renegade King-Angel of the Bull Host who has waited 1,000,000 years to rebel against Heaven, and Zauriel, an angel who knows his secret, use Earth as their battlefield.[22] Asmodel makes a deal with Neron to have him help him in his plans to take over Heaven, but at the last moment of the assault on Heaven, Neron abandons his support and returns to Hell without any explanation as to why.[23]

Immediately after this, he is once again defeated by the Trickster I with the help of the five Rogues Gallery members whom he had been involved with twice before, the Pied Piper II and Billy Hong, a 12-year-old boy who is also the Majee, a special agent of the Saravistran god Mestra sent to observe and weigh humanity's progress. As part of the deal that he makes with the demon, the Trickster I orders Neron to forget all about the five Rogues Gallery members, with the only thing that he asks for in exchange is to be always remembered as the one mortal who beat Neron at his own game twice. The enraged Neron informs the Trickster I in no uncertain terms that he will remember this moment before disappearing and all five of the Rogues Gallery members are, as a result, grudgingly grateful to the Trickster I for being freed from Neron's revenge forever.[24]

Etrigan the Demon (who is trying to cause chaos on Earth and defeat his enemy, Neron) causes trouble in Neron's realm by bonding Asmodel (who is bound in Hell and being tortured by Neron) to the Spectre-Force (which is awaiting a new host after its previous host James Brendan "Jim" Corrigan I's death and ascension into Heaven) with the ashes of an angel's wing feather. Asmodel, who is trying to destroy both Heaven and Hell, uses the Spectre's powers to extinguish the hellfire font, causing Hell to freeze over. In the chaos caused by the inhabitants of all of Hell's realms invading Earth, Neron uses Superman's body as a gateway and once again tries to claim the Spectre-Force for himself. He is defeated when the Spectre-Force chooses Harold "Hal" Jordan (the former Green Lantern II) as its new host instead (over both him and Asmodel, thus making Hal Jordan into the Spectre II for a time) and then he is punished by his fellow demon-lords for using Hell's power for his own pleasure. His royal status is stripped from him and he is demoted to the position of a Rhyming Demon[25]-which had been Etrigan's plan all along. Later, it is revealed that Superman was not just used as a gateway to Earth, but was actually replaced by Neron in disguise while Superman's soul was battling for Lois Joanne Lane's soul in Hell.[4]

To win back his position in Hell and regain his full powers, Neron next travels back into the past three times (despite the interference of Deadman in all three of those times) to collect three previously-dead superheroes' souls at the time of their deaths: Barry Allen (who had died in the Crisis),[26]Jason Todd (who had been killed by the Joker)[27] and Superman (who had been killed by Doomsday).[28] However, he only gains the first two souls, even though he ultimately needs three souls to accomplish his goal. Unable to enter Superman's body himself because of its purity, he discovers that his human surrogate, Darius Caldera, is rejected by Superman's body also, so he makes a deal with Caldera and uses his soul as the third of the three souls that he requires. He then turns his attention to Green Lantern II, tricking Deadman into saving Hal Jordan from death in the past during his battle with Mongul I,[29] ensuring that Neron will have the chance to tempt Jordan later in his history (after he has become Parallax) and thus succeed in winning back his position in Hell and regaining his full powers.[30] Neron erases Deadman's memory of him so that he cannot prevent this from happening, but is finally defeated when Hal Jordan (as the Spectre II) restores Deadman's memory and Deadman changes the future by ensuring that Caldera dies before Neron can even offer him a deal.[31]

Despite this setback, Neron appears to have somehow won back his position in Hell and regained his full powers anyway within three years (how this is done is never explained, seen or shown), after which the demon Calcabrina offers Neron the souls of 66 members of the Human Defense Corps in an attempt to deflect both the Corps and other Earthly forces from a war with him (although the deal is never completed, as it is interrupted by the Corps launching a successful rescue bid in an attack on Hell).[32] Two years after this he tries to make a deal with Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter, but fails to do so.[33]

Under thrall to Neron, Felix Faust plots to deliver him the Elongated Man's (Randolph William "Ralph" Dibny's) soul at the moment of its greatest despair. Pretending to be Doctor Fate I (Kent Nelson), Faust attempts to convince the Elongated Man that he can resurrect his wife, Susan Dearbon "Sue" Dibny, from the dead and teaches him magical skills so that he can do so, but is tricked by the Elongated Man, who has known for some time that he is not Doctor Fate I and that Neron is responsible for the whole plot. When Neron appears, he is goaded by the Elongated Man into killing him, but then discovers too late that the Elongated Man has tricked him and has established a circle of binding around Doctor Fate I's home, the Tower of Nabu, which can only be undone by the person who originally created it. Neron is thus trapped in the tower with Faust, seemingly for all eternity.[34]

The binding does not last long; through some unknown method, Neron soon finds a way to escape[35](again, how this is done is never explained, seen or shown) and makes a deal with Kid Devil,[2] granting him the superpowers that he has always dreamed of by turning him into Red Devil in exchange for his soul when he reaches 20 years of age if his trust in his idol, Blue Devil, is broken. He then reveals that Blue Devil was responsible for the death of Red Devil's aunt, filmmaker Marla Bloom, and had hidden the truth from him. When Red Devil confronts Blue Devil, he finds out that everything that Neron had said was the truth and he becomes estranged from Blue Devil for a time, believing, at that moment, that his soul now belongs to Neron.[36]

Neron is opposed by the demon siblings Blaze and Satanus, the rulers of Purgatory, who attempt to take control of Hell while he is imprisoned in the Tower of Nabu. The hordes of Purgatory invade Hell under their command and influence Hell's demons against Neron by offering "hope to the hopeless" and redemption for the damned, which has never happened before. To defeat the legions of the damned, Neron has Lilith the Mother of Monsters recall all of her children to Hell to fight on his side. Despite all of this and just when Neron seems to be victorious, he is killed by Satanus, who had used the war as a cover in order to infect Hell with a modified airborne viral version of DMN, a magical drug that normally changes humans into monsters but, in this version, changes demons into soulless humans when combined with the magic word "Shazam" . For Neron, the drug turns him into a soulless human as well and causes all of the demonic entities that he had consumed over the millennia to be cast out of him. No longer a match for Satanus, he is beheaded by his former enemy, after which Satanus claims the throne of Hell for himself.[37] It all turns out to be for nothing, however, because Blaze, Satanus' sister, soon usurps her brother's position and claims the throne for herself, thus winning the war.[38] However, this miniseries is known to have many internal continuity errors that make its place in mainstream DC Universe canon questionable.[citation needed]

Ambush Bug goes to Hell and asks Neron to nullify his marriage to the Dumb Bunny, one of the members of the Inferior Five[39] (whom he married in Las Vegas while he was drunk)-one of several alternate realities that he travels to in order to find a way to get out of the marriage.[40] This was a short non-canonical joke that was done as a parody of the Spider-Man storyline One More Day (2007-2008) by DC Comics' longtime rival Marvel Comics.[41]

In 2011, DC relaunched all of its titles in an initiative called The New 52. Neron's first appearance in The New 52 version of the DC Universe (as part of the DC YOU line) was in Constantine: The Hellblazer #8-13 (March–August 2016). In this story, Neron is retconned as originally having been a minor demon who, through various unscrupulous means, became the demon-lord that he is today in the 1980s (he is here given the current title of an Arch-Duke of Hell, a far cry from the ruler of Hell that he had once been). The Underworld Unleashed crossover event (and by unspoken extension, "The Trial of Superman!" crossover storyline, which occurred at the same time as this event) is also revealed in this story as being canon in this version of the DC Universe and is said to have occurred in the 1990s. Here, he becomes an enemy of John Constantine the Hellblazer. He is also drawn in this story as a satirical caricature of Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.[42]

In 2016, DC's titles were relaunched again in another initiative called DC Rebirth. Neron's first appearance in the DC Rebirth version of the DC Universe was in Midnighter and Apollo #2-6 (January–May 2017). In this story, Neron is keeping Apollo (one half of the superhero team Midnighter and Apollo) as a prisoner in Hell and Midnighter tries to free him from Neron's clutches, ultimately succeeding in doing so, but not without a fierce struggle on both sides of the battle.[43]

Neron is normally portrayed as being one of the most powerful magical beings in the DC Universe; almost invulnerable and able to warp reality and raise the dead. However, despite manifesting great strength and magical powers on occasion, he normally relies on a deal to obtain human souls and only claims them when the deal is up or when his victims fail to keep their side of the deal. He is able to give superheroes and supervillains magic-based powers (as he did with Kid Devil by turning him into Red Devil),[2] can greatly enhance a superhero or supervillain's existing powers and has the ability to assume a human-like appearance-although he sometimes uncontrollably reverts to a demonic form when angry. He possesses immense physical strength, as seen when he killed Mongul I with his bare hands or when killing other demons. He is also adept at creating items of power, for example, the Ocean Master's trident,[44] or more common items such as the Secret Six III's Get Out of Hell Free card[45] or a box of Cuban cigars for the Joker.[8] If killed, he returns to his own realm and is considerably more powerful while there, even at times depicted as near-omnipotent while in his realm.

Neron appears to be unable to resist a chance to make a deal and has often been tricked out of the deals that he has made with mortals (especially by the Trickster I, who outwitted him twice-something that no other mortal had ever done before, much less lived to tell about it-and earned Neron's eternal hatred as a result after the second time). He is also unable to deal with pure souls, such as those of Superman or Captain Marvel, and when he tries to take the love that the Flash III and Linda Park have for each other, he discovers, in shock, that the purity of that love begins to corrupt him to the extent that he begins to feel pity and compassion for the damned souls in his realm for the first time in his existence without understanding why, which forces him in utter desperation to frantically offer the couple another deal to take their love back. He is also unable to "alter the fundamental laws of the universe". [46] He has also admitted that he can be destroyed by the Spear of Destiny, a mystical object that typically can also destroy the Spectre.[volume & issue needed]

Neron has an important, albeit brief and off-panel, role in "Grand Guignol", a story arc-one of many-chronicled in Starman (vol. 2).[47] After the Shade I (Richard Swift), one of the series' supervillains (who, at that time, claimed to have reformed and to no longer be a supervillain), earlier refuses Neron's offer of a deal during the Underworld Unleashed crossover event,[48] he swears to have revenge on the Shade I and ultimately gets it by making deals with, and giving enhanced powers to, two more of the series' supervillains, the Mist I (Kyle Nimbus) and the Rag Doll I (Peter Merkel Senior), in exchange for both of them-along with Doctor Phosphorus, with whom he had previously made a deal during the Underworld Unleashed crossover event[9]-destroying Opal City and harming the Shade I.[49] Neron's revenge is, in fact, an important part of an elaborate scheme of Simon Culp, the Shade I's deadliest enemy, to get his own revenge on the Shade I as well.[50]

Neron makes his live-action debut in season four of the CW TV series Legends of Tomorrow, portrayed by Christian Keyes in the body of Desmond and by Brandon Routh in the body of Ray Palmer. John Constantine reveals that Neron approached him with the deed to his soul, looking for help in taking over Hell. However, when Constantine refused, Neron made a deal with his lover Desmond, who agreed to bind his soul to Neron's to protect Constantine. When Constantine sent Neron back to Hell, he was also forced to damn his lover to it.[51] Inhabiting Desmond's body, Neron causes trouble for the Legends through his partnership with Time Bureau funder Hank Heywood.[52] When Hank has a change of heart about their plan and tries to back out of it, Neron kills him and eventually takes Legends member Ray Palmer as his new vessel. Palmer surrenders his body when Neron promises not to kill his teammate Nate Heywood.[53] Forcing Constantine to help him, Neron opens a portal to Hell and brings his lover Tabitha the Fairy Godmother to Earth, with the two looking to open a larger portal that would unleash all of Hell on Earth. Constantine and Nate trick Neron into breaking his own word by killing Nate, which ejects him out of Ray's body. Neron in his shadowy form is finally killed by Constantine, though the team manages to resurrect Nate shortly thereafter.[54]

^Neron claims that he knew all along that the Pied Piper II would not even use the candle. "Why else send a candle to your friend, the Piper, all those months ago? I knew he'd never use it to light his way here. It was meant for you to find." (The Flash (vol. 2) #128 (August 1997)) But course Neron is a liar, so this may not be true.

^as narrated by the still-trapped Felix Faust in issue #2 of the six-issue miniseries Black Adam: The Dark Age (October 2007-March 2008). Note: the binding also does not appear to have been very effective either; Faust also escapes within the year.

^In yet another one of Neron's failures, Blaze later revealed to Kid Devil that his powers and transformation into Red Devil were not given to him or done to him by Neron as per the deal; Neron had actually unlocked a metagene that was already present in Kid Devil and did not even know it, so, as a result, the deal was not binding-and, in fact, had been null and void right from the beginning; therefore, Kid Devil's soul was not damned to Hell after all. (Teen Titans (vol. 3) #68 (April 2009)).

^This comic book series was one of DC Comics' most successful and most popular ones, lasting 80 issues (November 1994-August 2001) and two Annuals (1996 and 1997), a #0 issue (October 1994 (which started the series)), a #1,000,000 issue (November 1998), an 80-Page Giant issue (January 1999), a Secret Files and Origins issue (April 1998) a Girlfrenzy! issue (Starman: The Mist #1 (June 1998)) and, much later, a #81 issue (March 2010) that was part of the later DC Comics crossover event Blackest Night (2009-2010).